These ATMs In Kenya Dispense smooth Water instead of cash

When Danish engineering agency Grundfos started researching one of the best ways to distribute water in Nairobi, Kenya, they discovered that access to clean water wasn’t the problem. In most communities, people might go to imperative spigots and pay a fee for get right of entry to to groundwater that is each drinkable and conveniently available.

the true issue, it turned out, was amassing the money to place it again into the water purification process. “the man opening and shutting the valve does it for a value,” says Grundfos’s Jesper Ravn Lorenazen, “And his motivation to pass on the cash to water utility is limited.”

to resolve the problem of shelling out water whereas also growing earnings for the area people, the company developed AQtap. it is a computer that basically functions like an ATM for water: customers get a “water card” where they can accumulate factors, either by making a purchase order from a supplier or making a fee on their cellphone. after they swipe their card on the machine, a easy interface will enable them to make a choice the quantity of water they need and then deduct the factors from their card. A hose under the monitor dispenses the chosen amount of clean water.

That approach, Lorenazen explains, “the money that they invested can also be amassed and reinvested into offering water. And at the same time [the local government] is incentivized to maintain them operational, because if it is now not operating, there is no income.”

The venture remains to be in its pilot stage, but being tested in Kenya, Uganda, Thailand and Nigeria. in the slums of Nairobi, the place the corporate has labored with the native govt to arrange four ATMs, community individuals pay three Kenyan shillings ($0.20 USD) for a 20-liter jerry can of water.

The AQtap machines look similar to a typical ATM, with a metal cabinet and a touch interface. “The bodily design is characterized by means of robustments—we all know that these shall be in tough environments,” says Lorenazen. A blue water drop signifies where to slide within the blue water card, making it very intuitive for users who might no longer read or haven’t used an ATM earlier than.

along with collecting earnings, the machines might also gather information about how regularly they are used and how much cash is being disbursed. “Most water projects in Africa are funded by way of water building packages or NGOs, and so they want as a way to report the impression and impact on the developing world. The machines ensure we capture all data so that the funders can see the it documented,” says Lorenazen.